Etude économique du système d'élevage traditionnel en race Salers

Economic study of a traditionnal breeding system of the « Salers » race - The breeding system traditionnally used in the Cantal area with the « Salers » race produces both milk and meat as all calves, male or female, are kept until the cows run dry in order to make the milking easier. The milk is either sold to a dairy or processed by the farmer into cheese (Cantal or St-Nectaire). The economic results observed in 1968 on a number of farms where the technical level is good, located in the mountains (800-1 100 m.) in the North of the Cantal, are relatively good. The size of the herds, quite important (25 to more than 100 cows) in this area, the high crop yield of the grassland, and the double production of milk and meat by the herd, explain this satisfactory situation. Especially, the organization of the sales of calves to beef fatteners encourages the farmers to improve their production (weight, quality and number of calves). In our sample, the income per farmer was the same whichever use was made of the milk, (cheese or dairy-sold). The cheese in fact gives a better value for the milk but demands more labour. However, the traditional system will be difficult to maintain because of the amount of hard work it demands. Certain farms develop into specialized milk production units (in changing the breed), others tend towards exclusive meat production. This orientation is possible economically because the herds are big and the outside labour can be reduced. But the rapidity of the evolution depends on the prices of milk and meat, so much more so as this change implies an important financing problem when the herd has to be increased and sheds are needed.